Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales Euro-MP Jill Evans has welcomed a vote in the European Parliament on proposed laws on the use of traditional herbal medicines.

MEPs were responding to proposals by the European Commission to standardise the law on herbal medicinal products. It is proposed to set up a special procedure for registering and marketing traditional herbal medicines with the goal of ensuring quality and safety standards.

Speaking from Strasbourg Jill Evans MEP, who is a member of the Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy Committee which has debated this issue for many months, said:

"I know many people in Wales whose health is improved by taking herbal medicines and I have received a lot of letters from constituents worried about their future right to choose traditional medicines and supplements. We must protect the right of people who use herbal medicines. At the same time we have to ensure that they are safe to use."

"The current system of licensing herbal medicinal products does not give good enough protection against products that are unsafe or of poor quality. At the moment, companies making such products don't have to supply detailed information about their contents to consumers. This has to change. People have a right to know that the herbal medicines they take are safe. I could not support the proposals in their current form because they don’t ensure that safe herbal medicinal products could continue to reach the consumers."

"The report contained several amendments that my group had already proposed, for example that European law should only cover the medicines that are actually pharmaceutically active and not all herbal supplements, food, food supplements and cosmetics. We also inserted that the new EU law should allow Member States that already have stricter provisions than the new proposals to retain these. There should be no lowering of standards, and people’s health should not be put at risk."

"123 million people in the EU use herbal medicinal products such as syrups, eyewashes and extracts. This legislation is about getting the correct balance between people’s rights and their safety."

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